


What a Joke

by enigmasMystery



Series: Trying to Forget (Everything) shorts [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Depression, Hurt/Comfort, IT'S JUST BROTHERS BEING SUPPORTIVE, Memories of both routes, NOT FONTCEST!!!, Nightmares, No Romance, Other, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sans is tired of all the resets, Sorry if I miss a tag, Suicidal Thoughts, Undertale Genocide Route, Undertale Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 19:37:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9563447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enigmasMystery/pseuds/enigmasMystery
Summary: God is Sans tired of all the resets. The world has reset once again, and he just wants to sleep through this one. But when you dream, you can have nightmares...(Sucky summary, I know. Sorry)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for all the stuff I put in the tags. Do not read if easily triggered. Sorry if I missed a tag. Sorry if there's mistakes, I'm tired.

            Sans opened his eyes, and instantly wished he hadn’t, pain shooting around his skull. He was in bed, which he had no memory of getting to. That could mean one of two things; either he had had way too much to drink at Grillby’s, or…

“SANS, WAKE UP YOU LAZY BONES, YOU’LL BE LATE FOR SENTRY DUTY!” Papyrus called up the stairs. Yep, another reset. He sighed, and rolled over to face the wall, barely managing to even though it was supposed to be easy. There were a lot of things that were supposed to be easy that he just couldn’t do anymore, remember to eat, stay awake at work, sleep through the night without waking up nearly screaming… He pulled the pillow over his head, trying to block out the artificial light that filtered into his room, and closed his eyes.

            _Golden light filled the hallway, giving it an otherworldly feeling._

_Dodge, keep dodging, god, why wouldn’t the kid listen to them? What happened to the kid that laughed at his jokes and made friends with everyone? Dodge again, keep giving his speech with the hope he could reach them._

_Do-9999999…well, he couldn’t keep dodging forever, and the kid knew it._

_“welp. i’m going to grillby’s. papyrus, do you want anything?_

_The golden light filled with red, and as he fell, the world turned into dust. The grey substance swirled around him, the only other color present was the red that drenched his torso, he could feel the dust fill his faux lungs, suffocating him. The knife wound burned, and he couldn’t tell which was worse, the suffocation or the bleeding out, either way he was going to die, he should have done more to stop the kid, but what was the point in trying to stop a time-traveling genocidal maniac? This was his punishment, eternity in a dust-filled world and oh god why wouldn’t he just die already, just let them reset, just let them reset, JUST RESET ALREA-_

“SANS!” Sans jolted awake, back in his room. Wait, was he? If he was in his room then why couldn’t he breath, why did his chest still burn?

“SANS, IT’S ALRIGHT NOW, IT’S JUST ME, SANS YOU NEED TO BREATHE!” Slowly, more details of the room came into focus, and then he saw Papyrus sitting in front of him, holding his shoulders and looking terrified.

“…paps?” He horsely whispered, barely able to get the single syllable out while his lungs screamed for air. Relief flashed through Papyrus’ eyes for just a moment, before his gaze steeled.

“SANS, I NEED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME, YOU NEED TO BREATHE. THIS IS IMPORTANT SANS, COPY ME, COPY HOW I BREATHE.” With that Papyrus took a deep breath in, held it for two seconds, then slowly released it. “YOU NEED TO DO THAT SANS, PLEASE. NOW I’M GOING TO DO IT AGAIN, BREATHE WITH ME SANS.”

Sans tried, his breathing shaky as he tried to copy Papyrus. It took what seemed like an eternity, but slowly he managed to get his breathing under control. When he did, he slumped against the wall, completely exhausted.

“GOOD JOB, SANS! NOW, CAN YOU PLEASE LET GO OF YOUR RIBCAGE?” Papyrus said, moving to sit next to Sans against the wall. Sans looked down in shock to see his hand gripping his sternum tightly. No wonder his chest had been hurting…He slowly released his grip and dropped his now shaking hand to his side. He leaned against Papyrus, who wrapped his arm around him, hugging him tightly.

“…SANS, WHAT HAPPENED JUST NOW?” Papyrus asked, voice softer than usual. Normally Sans would have just shaken it off, cracked a joke about how he wasn’t rattled, and tried to get Papyrus to think he was alright, but at the moment he was too exhausted to even try it.

“it was just a nightmare, paps, i’ll be fine.” Sans said, gaze fixed on the ground.

“DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

“no.” God, did he want to. He just wanted to get this weight off his chest, but he couldn’t do that to Papyrus, why bother him with it when he would just forget about it come the next reset?

“BUT WOULDN’T TALKING ABOUT IT HELP?”

“…i don’t- i can’t, paps.” Sans started shaking. He couldn’t do this, if he told Papyrus one thing then everything would come out, the resets, his depression, the past timelines both good and bad, how he was just too tired to do any of it anymore- he couldn’t do that, he couldn’t allow himself to rely on Papyrus when all that support and progress would just be ripped away from him. He wouldn’t be able to survive that.

“…BROTHER, I WILL RESPECT YOUR DECISION BUT KNOW I AM HERE FOR YOU,” Papyrus said, turning to face Sans, trying to convey all his sincerity and love into the mini-speech. “I AM HERE FOR YOU, AND I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE TO HELP YOU! IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT THE PROBLEM IS, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL ALWAYS BE HERE TO SUPPPORT YOU. JUST KNOW THAT WHEN YOU ARE READY TO TALK ABOUT WHAT IS CAUSING YOUR NIGHTMARES, I WILL BE HERE FOR YOU!”

Sans’ shaking intensified and he looked away. Papyrus had meant every word, he knew it, but he couldn’t bring himself to open up. He couldn’t do it, he was too weak, wasn’t that why the kid always managed to kill everyone, including himself? He was too scared, what if Papyrus didn’t believe him, he wouldn’t be able to take that kind of rejection. He was too tired, he just wanted to sleep forever and not have to deal with any of this anymore…

Bony arms surrounded around him as Papyrus wrapped him in a tight hug.

“I WILL BE HERE FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE MY BROTHER, AND I LOVE YOU, NO MATTER WHAT.”

“heh…heh” Sans tried to breathe, to just laugh because god it was funny how much of a mess he was, but the lump in his faux throat made it difficult to do anything as his eye sockets watered. He tried to breath, and instead of exhaling, he started sobbing, clutching at Papyrus’ shirt. Papyrus simply sat there as his brother sobbed, rubbing calming circles onto his back, waiting for him to finish because he knew how much Sans needed to let it all out. He held his brother and waited, because that’s what brothers do.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a one-shot, it will not be continued, although it might be mentioned in my main story later. I needed to write this because my mental health has gone to crud again, so I needed to vent and we're not far enough in the main story for me to throw this kind of crud at the characters so some Sans-angst it was.


End file.
